‘He is a heavy sleeper,’ Max explained before she yawned again. ‘Is there something wrong?’
‘Yes.’ Tetu blustered and twitched. ‘You were not ’ere. None of you were.’
‘But Commandant Tetu,’ Veronique sat beside Max, ‘you have arranged very good minders. We were in the attic telling stories and must have fallen asleep. Are you here because you have news about Papa?’
Tetu stopped short. His tone softened, along with the colour of his cheeks. His eye calmed down. ‘Nothing concrete yet, Mademoiselle, but we are getting close. I am sure it won’t be long until we find him.’
‘Thank you, Commandant. With you on the case, I know Papa is in very good hands.’
Tetu’s eye twitched again. Just once.
‘Well,’ Tetu said, ‘I will zay goodnight. Max, will you walk wiz me to ze door?’
Max hurried behind the large strides of Tetu. He opened the door and stepped onto the veranda where he stopped in a sudden spin.
‘I know you are playing games wiz me, and I don’t like it. You are not to leave zis ’ouse unless I know about it and only under full escort. It’s dangerous, unsafe, perilous. Is zat clear?’
Max gave him her best, obedient smile. ‘Yes, Commandant.’ Her danger meter began to pound against her chest. ‘Commandant, I think …’
A gunshot cut through the night. Tetu pushed Max out of the way. The bullet cracked into a stone pillar beside where Max had been standing, sending a shower of grit and stone over her. Two officers ducked behind large potted plants, guns pointed as they scanned the grounds. Tetu stayed where he was in full view, legs astride, gun raised, searching for the perpetrator.
The sound of screeching tyres ripped through the air like a taunting laugh.
‘Maybe staying here isn’t so safe, either.’ Max rubbed her head from where it had struck the ground after Tetu’s shove. Her danger meter was calm.
‘What happened?’ Linden ran onto the veranda and dropped to his knees beside Max. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I think so, apart from a ringing in my ears and this newly forming lump on my head.’
Linden held out his hand to help her up.
‘I’m fine.’ Max tried to stand and almost stumbled off the veranda into a rose bush.
Linden grabbed hold of her around her waist. ‘Maybe I’ll help you anyway.’
‘It is obvious none of you are zafe ’ere anymore.’ Tetu kept his eyes trained on the darkened borders of the front yard. ‘Go inside, pack your bags and ’ave everyone ready to leave in ten minutes.’
‘Where are we going?’ Linden asked.
‘Zere is an estate not far from Paris.’
‘An estate? Whose estate?’ Max brushed herself down.
‘Monsieur Strangways.’
‘Strangways?’ Max asked. ‘Isn’t he a subject of your investigation?’
‘Not any longer. We ’ave questioned him quite zoroughly and ’e ’as nozing to do wiz ze crime against Veronique’s papa. ’E insisted on taking care of ’er at ze beginning, but I zought she would be safer here.’ Tetu sighed. ‘Obviously, zat iz not true. So until zis ’ole ’orrible business is taken care of, sorted out, over and done wiz, you will stay zere.’ He looked up. ‘Now hurry. Each second you stay here puts you in terrible danger, and I ’ave given my word zat nozing will ’appen to zat little girl.’
‘But –’ Max began.
‘You will do as I say.’ Tetu’s words were like a hollow wind, tearing the last ounce of warmth from the air.
‘This is Strangways’s estate? You have got to be kidding me.’
‘Nobody is kidding you, Toby.’ Veronique smiled. ‘This is it.’
The limousine made its way through the slowly opening iron gates. Spotlights lit them from below, revealing the forged shapes of two elongated figures, each with the head of an animal.
‘And who are the two spooky guys on the gate?’ Max leant away from Fifi, who was in the seat beside her chomping noisily on a bone.
‘Anubis, the jackal-headed god.’ Toby held his palm computer before him. ‘He’s known as the gatekeeper of the ancient Egyptian afterlife because he guided the dead as they journeyed through the darkness of the underworld.’
‘Guiding the dead?’ Max asked. ‘Surely there were better jobs in ancient Egypt.’
‘It was a very important position,’ Veronique added. ‘Anubis was the keeper of poisons and medicines for embalming. He was a patron of magic, could predict a person’s destiny and was known as the announcer of death.’
Max jumped as the gates swung shut behind them with a reverberating clang. ‘I still think Strangways could have thought of something more pleasant to decorate his front gates with.’
‘I don’t know,’ Toby added. ‘I think they’ve got class.’
‘The moment I need notes on class, I’m not coming to you.’
Veronique smiled. ‘I agree with Toby.’ She flicked him a crooked smile. ‘They have got class. Of course, not everyone will be able to see it.’
‘Oh, I can see … Aaah!’ Max recoiled from the slobber-covered bone Fifi had dropped in her lap.
‘Isn’t that cute.’ Veronique smiled. ‘Fifi only gives her dinner away to people she likes. Could you hand it back, Max?’ Veronique looked like she would enjoy nothing more than seeing Max’s fingers bathed in dog drool.
Max grabbed a tissue from a box in the side holder of her door and gathered up the dripping bone. ‘You’re a long way from home, Fido,’ she whispered. ‘Be careful you don’t get lost out here.’
Fifi growled and snatched back the bone, only narrowly missing Max’s fingers.
The limousine entered a forest path, illuminated by flaming torches and fairy lights threaded throughout the trees. At the end, the path opened up to reveal Strangways’s home.
‘It’s a castle.’ Linden’s eyes climbed the huge stone walls topped with battlements and anchored at each end by rounded towers lit from below by tinted orange glowing floodlights. In the centre, the gatehouse was fortified by a soaring stone archway laid behind a drawbridge that sat chained and sturdy above the dark waters of a moat.
Max stared out her window and mumbled. ‘A castle that would be hard to escape from if someone didn’t want you to leave.’
The car jolted onto the wooden bridge and drove into the interior within the castle walls. The heavy chains lurched into life, withdrawing the bridge in a droning ascent until it sealed the fortress with a wrenching thud. The limousine crept through the narrow stone gatehouse.
‘See those.’ Toby opened the sunroof and pointed upwards where gaping holes let in streams of light. ‘They’re called murder holes. If we were the enemy, we’d be pelted with missiles or fiery arrows or burning hot liquids to teach us a lesson.’
‘Now there’s a way to make a person feel welcome,’ Max cringed. ‘And close that, will you? Just in case Strangways is planning a lesson for us.’
‘Regi is harmless. You’ll see,’ Veronique said. ‘We’ll be much safer here.’
The limousine pulled into the inner courtyard and swerved to a halt before a sweeping marble staircase. The interior of the castle walls were daubed with hundreds of arched windows and rose into a multi-level mansion. On either side of the stairs were gnarled, flaming torches. Below, lights hidden in shrubs lit up the building as if it were about to take flight.
A man in a tuxedo with shiny shoes and perfectly gelled hair was waiting to greet them. Without making eye contact, he bent low in one smooth motion and opened the door of the car.
Linden and Toby scrambled out and felt as if they should bow back.
Veronique turned to Max. ‘Since you two are bonding so well, could you bring Fifi?’
‘There’s nothing I’d love more.’ Max faked a huge smile, before snapping it into a sneer.
‘Great place you’ve got here,’ Toby said to the tuxedoed man, who remained silent. Instead, without a sniff of a smile, he led them inside.
In the cathedral-sized foy
er, they were met by another towering staircase and walls crowded with portraits and tapestries. From the centre of the roof hung a chandelier that looked like a fountain of diamonds frozen in midair.
‘If Strangways ever needs someone to mind this place for him while he’s away, I’m his man,’ Toby drooled.
‘That’s a very kind offer.’
The group turned to see a hunched man dressed in a suit and leaning on a cane. ‘I’ll make sure to keep you in mind,’ he smiled.
‘Regi!’ Veronique ran and almost bowled the man over in a hug.
‘Careful, dear,’ Strangways staggered briefly, ‘I’m not as nimble as I used to be.’
‘I don’t believe you, Regi. You’re still strong.’
‘See these young people of today.’ Strangways turned to Toby and Linden. ‘No respect for their elders.’
He closed his eyes and laid one hand on Veronique’s head. ‘It is lovely to see you again, my dear. After what happened to your father, I was in anguish thinking that you … I’m very sorry about the scare you had at your house this evening and that you have been dragged into all this. If anything happened to you, I’d …’ Strangways’s words snagged again before he looked up and smiled. ‘You should introduce me to your friends.’
‘These are the people who’ve been sent to mind me. This is Toby and Linden and –’
Fifi’s barking interrupted the introductions.
‘And who is this gorgeous thing?’
Max stepped forward to answer, but Fifi leapt out of her grip and into the arms of Veronique, who lifted her up to Strangways’s cheek for a hello lick.
‘I was beginning to think I wasn’t going to get my kiss,’ the old man said.
Max winced at the slobbering mutt’s attention seeking.
Strangways lifted his hand weakly towards the man in the tuxedo. ‘I’ve had my housemaster, François, make up some supper. Anyone interested?’
Strangways held Veronique’s hand and led the group into a ballroom-sized dining room. Stretched across the middle was a table loaded with mini bacon quiches, ham and cheese croissants, chocolate profiteroles, strawberry tarts and a pot of steaming hot chocolate.
‘This place just got even more amazing,’ Linden whispered and almost floated to his seat.
Max pulled out a chair and Fifi jumped into it, panting at her innocently. Max gave her a warning look and moved to the other side of the table.
‘So this is where you live?’ Toby took a huge bite of a warm ham and cheese croissant.
‘Between here, my Paris salon and another castle I own in Switzerland, yes.’
François silently circled the chairs, opening serviettes and placing them on the guests’ laps.
‘And we’re safe here?’ Max asked.
‘This castle and its grounds have the very best of modern security,’ he smiled gleefully, ‘as well as a few old and trusty ones. All a person has to do is think of trespassing and alarms will go off.’
Strangways laughed at his own joke. François began pouring hot chocolates, using small silver tongs to add generously sized marshmallows.
‘So what do you remember from the night at the Louvre?’ Max asked.
‘Maybe Regi doesn’t want to talk about that right now?’ Veronique shot a warning glance at Max.
‘No, no, dear. It’s okay.’ A pained expression clouded over Strangways’s face. ‘I had just climbed into bed when Antoine called me and said he had something very important to show me, an exciting new find from a recent dig.’ Strangways let out a small sniff. ‘He always did that. He would get so excited about his work that he’d forget what time of the day or night it was when he’d call.’
‘So what did you do?’ Max continued.
‘My driver took me immediately to the Louvre to meet him, and when I reached his office we were beset by thugs posing as security guards. The next thing I knew I was being woken up in a gutter by a policeman.’
‘And you don’t remember anything else?’
‘I’m afraid a combination of old age and a bang on the head has ensured that I don’t.’
‘What did Monsieur Marceau show you?’ Max asked.
‘Alas, the two thugs blundered in before Antoine could reveal his news.’
François finished his pouring and stood at the end of the table with his hands crossed before him.
‘You must have had an idea what it could have been. I mean, you fund most of his archaeological trips.’
‘Antoine is one of the busiest of his profession. He is currently investigating a multitude of projects. I fund some of them, certainly, but he could have had news about any one of them. Isn’t that right, Veronique?’ Strangways picked up a fork and stabbed it into a slice of quiche.
‘He’d be working on so many, even I found it hard to keep track.’
‘How did you get the limp?’ Max eyed him suspiciously.
‘Maybe that is personal and Regi doesn’t want to tell you,’ Veronique said.
‘It was such a long time ago,’ Strangways replied. ‘I don’t mind, dear. I was on an archaeological dig with Veronique’s father. We’d discovered an underground crypt of great significance, but the roof wasn’t as stable as we thought and it collapsed on top of me. Antoine carried me for over five miles for help, but my leg was shattered in so many places, the doctor found it hard to count. After a botched operation, I was left in constant pain accompanied by a rather unpleasant limp. My digging days were over, but my friendship with Antoine was cemented for life.’
Max eyed Strangways with a rigid stare. ‘So tell us where he is, then.’
François flinched, his eyes swinging round to Max.
Veronique dropped her strawberry tart onto her plate. ‘If Regi knew that, he’d have told the police. You’re a guest in this house, and it would be good if you could act like one.’
‘No, no, Veronique. Max is obviously a very clever agent and is merely covering all possibilities.’ Strangways smiled benevolently at Max. ‘If any of us do decide to break the law, I’d say we’d have to be very careful with you around.’ He laughed. ‘But for now, it’s been a long day and you should finish eating and get some rest.’
‘I won’t be able to sleep yet,’ Veronique said. ‘After everything that’s happened, I’m really awake.’
Strangways placed a careful hand on hers. ‘How about I show your friends the museum?’
‘Could you? It always makes me feel better.’
Strangways finished the last of his quiche and got up from the table with a laboured sigh. ‘Then a tour it shall be.’
Toby and Linden swapped a quick look and shovelled in final mouthfuls of quiche and croissants. Each grabbed a chocolate-covered profiterole before following Strangways out of the room and down a long corridor. At the end they stood before a heavy wooden door.
‘Would you mind, young man?’
Linden wiped his chocolatey fingers on a hanky and, with both hands, pulled it open.
Strangways led the group down a set of winding stone steps. ‘Be careful, the stairs are worn and the roof is a little low.’
The stairwell twisted downwards to a squat, roughly carved oak door, with a large brass keyhole. He reached into his pocket, removed a long brass key and slipped it into the lock. ‘If you wouldn’t mind, kind sir?’
Linden grabbed the handle of the door, opening it with a yawning creak to reveal a large, cavernous dungeon.
‘Please, go in.’ Strangways held his hand out and Toby, Veronique and Linden entered the room. As Max went to step past, Strangways whispered, ‘You have no need to worry about security while you are here, my dear. Watch this.’
Max’s danger meter pulsed to life seconds before a circular metal blade swung pendulum-like past her nose, missing it by a finger-width.
Max’s throat seized and her skin prickled in the cold closeness of the breeze created by the blade.
‘If anyone even tried to trespass where they weren’t welcome, that’s what they’ll be up
against.’ Strangways’s face had hardened to match his steel-edged voice before he smiled. ‘Now we’re ready to see what’s inside.’
Max stayed where she was, her danger meter calming to a slow pulse, her mind flinching at how close she had stood to instant death.
The stone arch ceilings sailed high above low-lit glass cases containing yellowing papyrus scrolls, ancient books, amulets, statues, gold necklaces and ceremonial cobra-circled headpieces. As the small group entered the underground museum, they were met with the cold, majestic look of two stone sphinxes, mythological characters with the bodies of well-fed lions and the heads of humans. Each wall was lined with stone slabs reaching from the floor to the ceiling, carved with outlines of kings and queens; symbols of cats, birds and fish; and scenes from everyday ancient Egyptian life.
‘This whole museum is yours?’ Linden walked up to a sphinx and stared at its ragged features.
‘Yes.’ Strangways sighed. ‘The collection has taken years to assemble and is the absolute treasure of my life.’ He turned to Veronique. ‘Except for you, my dear.’
‘What’s this?’ Linden came across a towering stone tablet crammed with small letters and symbols.
‘The Rosetta Stone?’ Toby’s eyes widened.
‘A replica,’ corrected Strangways. ‘But well spotted. The real one is in the British Museum.’
‘What’s a Rosetta Stone?’ Max asked.
‘The Rosetta Stone,’ Veronique explained. ‘It’s a message written in three languages: two are Egyptian, including hieroglyphics, and one is ancient Greek. The text was carved in 196 BC but the stone wasn’t found until 1799. By comparing the known Greek language against the hieroglyphs, a translator was able to work out the meaning of the ancient Egyptian language.’
‘Well done, my dear.’ Strangways nodded. ‘Many secrets from the ancient world – some very powerful – were finally revealed to us, and people like Veronique’s father are crucial in making that happen. Come,’ he announced with renewed vigour. ‘There’s more.’
‘Great, just what I need,’ Max mumbled. ‘Mysteries from the ancient world. What’s wrong with solving the one we have now?’
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